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Natural-Language Parser for PBEM

Thursday, 01 April 2010

A computer program called “Hunter” accepts, as input, a colloquial-English description of a set of policy-based-management rules, and parses that description into a form useable by policy-based enterprise management (PBEM) software.

PBEM is a rules-based approach suitable for automating some management tasks. PBEM simplifies the management of a given enterprise through establishment of policies addressing situations that are likely to occur. PBEM provides a way of managing configurations of network elements, applications, and processes via a set of high-level rules or business policies rather than managing individual elements. Thus, PBEM enables abstraction of the capabilities of the individual elements and switching of control to higher levels.

Development of a system that understands colloquial English is an extremely difficult problem. Because most people do not write perfect English, such a system must be very robust in order to understand what has been written. Hunter is such a system. Recognizing that all possible dialects and variants thereof cannot be anticipated in advance, Hunter was developed to have a unique capability to extract the intended meaning instead of focusing on parsing the exact ways in which individual words are used.

This program was written by Mark James of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Software category.

In accordance with Public Law 96-517, the contractor has elected to retain title to this invention. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use should be addressed to:

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